Failure
Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA)

Criticality is a measure of importance that can be
applied both to failure modes and to effects, allowing prioritization of
remedial actions. A simple way of measuring failure mode criticality is to
use the likelihood that it will occur in a given period. The criticality
of a failure effect is often measured as the likelihood of that effect
occurring due to any failure mode (although different approaches use
different variants on how to measure criticality).

Criticality may be further refined by also taking into
account any other items which are considered to be important, such as
severity of failure or chance of discovery by a customer.

Taking this extra step is performing Failure Mode,
Effects and Criticality Analysis, or FMECA, although this often still
referred to simply as FMEA.